Advantage 25' Citation with two 6.2s would treat you right.

Good in the rough, Deep hull, a great way to go.

Easily the 25 Tantrum from Active Thunder......Nothing even compares for handling, comfort and cabin space. Best all-around-not the fastest, but I'd rather be in a 25AT than a 29 Fountain in 3-4's!
2nd would probably be the Pantera or Powerplay....

I have to 2nd that on the A.T. Great all round boat, getting tougher to find though.

Best 24? For my money.........
 

I think this is going to come down to an East West preference thread.

For my money - Id go with the Laveycraft 24 Nuera why-?

Molded swimstep vs bolt on- much nicer.
Vacuum bag construction makes for a lighter stronger hull vs non bagged.
Lavey will power it with whatever you want- check out Quents 24 with an Ilmor 700 in it.
I prefer Gelcoat to paint and you can get it painted just like you see here or any way you want - standard by Jeff Camire himself.

Lavey consistently wins quality and worksmanship awards, and has racked up a highy impressive set of ocean wins against the whole world OSS & POPRA

The owners are awesome people Ive known for almost 20 years.

What else looks good-?

Eliminators Eagle is either a 23 or 25 depending on how you count the swimtep.

Gotta like Active Thunder as well- they do have really largest hull per foot of boat which translates to LARGE cabin areas. This probably also equals weight however. - you pick your tradeoffs

Never seen a Pantera that small, but I heard they have made them, if cared for- it will be a solid boat if you can find one.


Uncle Dave

Laveycraft 2750 Ilmor-710
Laveycraft 20.8 Sebring 406 SB
Fleetwood nitrous toy hauler
Yamaha raptor 700/Kawi KFX 450
Nissan Titan
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I would have to say the 24 Superboat is the best I have owned to date.

[QUOTE=Uncle Dave;2689357]Lavey consistently wins quality and worksmanship awardsQUOTE]


I`ve always wondered what Powerboat Magazine charged for those "awards". :party-smiley-004:

drumroll please.........
 

[QUOTE=Donman;2689380]
Quite the well though out, high quality, informative addition to this thread.

Your vote would be and why?

Uncle Dave

Laveycraft 2750 Ilmor-710
Laveycraft 20.8 Sebring 406 SB
Fleetwood nitrous toy hauler
Yamaha raptor 700/Kawi KFX 450
Nissan Titan

No particular order; just notes:

The 25' Baja Outlaw is a pretty good value boat. There are also thousands of them out there which helps folks get into them cheap.

The 25' Active Thunder is a great rough water boat. The boats are VERY solid throughout. There are not many out there, and they are no longer made; so scoring one is tough.

The 26' Sonic (actually 25' of running surface) is a great all around boat. Quite a few out there, well built, very solid; not bad in the rough. The wide walkrail costs a bit of cockpit room, but the cabins are well planned. They tend to be pretty heavy, so will not be the fastest.

The 251/253 Checkmates are pretty nimble and run pretty good in 2-3 footers due to a narrow beam.

The 24/7 boats which include the Superboat 24, Pantera 24, Sunsation Rocket/Aggressor, and a few others... I'd compare to go-karts on the water. Small, light, fast, narrow, and nimble, but not something you really want to take on a long trip in rough water. They all derived from the same hull, but topsides vary greatly. There was a thread on here which discussed all of the 24/7 boats in detail. These are great starter boats.

16/18/20/22 Donzi Minx/Classic will remain timeless as 2nd boats, dinner cruise boats, and just overall fun toys. They really were not designed to run well in rough water; more of a lake/river cruising boat. I'd love to have one someday; unless I can land an extremely rare 22' Active Thunder Banshee (but it's also not really an offshore boat).

I do also like the active thunders, been noticing more of them lately, they look like a pretty good rough water boat.

Progression still my favorite (of course I am biased...duh)